The wreckage of the Boeing 747-100 of Trans World Airlines, which exploded in the air shortly after departure from New York, is finally destroyed after 25 years. Now the 1,600 hull parts fished from the sea still form a macabre puzzle, which helped to determine the cause.

Flight TW800 was leaving for Paris on the evening of July 17, 1996, when it exploded mid-air and plunged into the sea. On board were 212 passengers and 18 crew members. They all perished.

The crash sparked much speculation. For example, it was claimed that the aircraft was the target of a bomb attack, or that it had been shot down by missiles.

By salvaging as much wreckage as possible and reconstructing most of the Boeing 747 in a hangar, researchers from the FAA and NTSB found that a short circuit had led to an explosion in the central fuel tank in the wing.

Since then, the ill-fated plane has been kept protected from the general public in a large hangar. It served as a training object to train new researchers, and relatives could also come by to commemorate their loved ones who had died in the disaster.

According to American media, it has now been decided to permanently destroy the wreck, 25 years after the crash. According to the NTSB, visitors are less and less, and the Boeing 747-100 is no longer needed for training purposes.

Also in the plane crash with flight MH17, which also took place on 17 July - but then in 2014 - researchers used a 'puzzle': the cockpit section of the Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines was carefully assembled to investigate how the Russian BUK missile led to the explosion of the aircraft.
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Read more ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800

http://www.beaglebass.com/ana/index_main.htm

--- DB4 - Jul 12 2021
* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)